How Much Worse Can It Get?
by MergirlZ
Summary: When Alfred is out of town the two bat boys, Dick and Tim, get sick. When Bruce has meeting all day and is unable to take care of them he calls Babs, who accepts. Before night even falls the asylum has a mass breakout, calling on Batman to save Gotham from utter destruction. As the situation becomes dire, he reluctantly calls on the help of his sick sidekicks.


I have never written a fanfic for YJ before, so hopefully this isn't too stupid. So read! And then tell me if you liked it!

Disclaimer:I do not own Young Justice, if I did we would still have a T.V. show

* * *

Dick was annoyed that, for the fifth time that day, Barbra stuck a thermometer in his mouth. _I mean honestly, _he thought, _I know Tim and is sick, but I don't need to be watched over twenty four seven. _After the thermometer beeped Babs took it out, "Are you trying to set a record here, I mean it Night one-o-six, really."

"I'm Fine Babs, just a fever- cough cough- it's fine, I don't see you worrying about Tim as much."

"Tim is actually getting better, not staying up all night, trying to still fight crime, and find out how he got sick, because he thinks it's some bad guys fault."

"It's nothing just a fever and a cough."

"Then why are you so worried about it?"

"Fine, because I don't normally get sick. There you happy now?"

"No, you're still not asleep."

"I'm fine- cough, cough, cough, cough- really." He said with a smile on his face that pretty much proved that he knew he was in trouble.

"Go lie down Dick," Barbra said, exasperated, shaking her head, and for once he actually listened to her. He walked up from the Batcave and to his temporary room at Wayne Manor. _I thought it was bad enough with Alfred out of the country, but now Bruce is booked meeting wise, and both of the boys are sick, and to add to that, one of them isn't very corporative and it isn't the younger one._

* * *

When she arrived upstairs she found Dick sitting on the edge of his bed looking out a window, his eyes were staring out of it, but he wasn't really there. He snapped out of the trance a few seconds after Barbra walked in. "How often do you get sick?"

"What?"

"How often do you get sick, you know, do you get the flu every year or a bad cold, how often?"

"Maybe a cold once a year, I don't know. I don't keep up with stuff like that."

"After living at the circus I never really get sick, it's just, I don't know… weird. When I do get sick it normally isn't THIS bad, if you know what I mean. A day of headaches and a sore throat, but nothing too bad, no fever, no vomiting, nothing like that."

"It just means that when you do get sick, it just hits you really hard. Nothing to worry about, and if you go all 'someone set this up' on me I'll have to drug you."

"It's not that it's just… weird."

"Get some sleep Night, try to get better, don't go around the city tonight, Bruce will understand."

" 'night Babs," Dick mumbled as he lied down and fell asleep.

Since both boys were asleep and she would be spending the night, Barbra went to her extra room at the mansion, which happened to be in between the boy's bedrooms. She went downstairs to grab her clothes and glanced at a clock on her way down, _Eleven eighteen, and he still isn't back yet! You would think with two sick boys he would at least come back early or possibly check in on them. _She thought as she grabbed her bag and took it upstairs.

Babs woke up to Dick almost screaming in his sleep "Mami! Tati!" Was all she could make out before he began actually screaming in Romani. The first thing she did was run into his room and found all of the covers off of him while he was thrashing in his bed. "Dick," she whispered as she grabbed him and brought him into a hug, "Dick wake up. Wake up now Dick, it was just a dream." The teenage boys eyes opened wide in fear, he as he hugged Babs harder and cried.

_The reason why he doesn't like getting sick, _she thought, _is because his nightmares get worse._ The boy would not let go of her and as she sat there thinking, one of her thoughts brought her to Bruce, _He should be back by now, why isn't _HE _in here? _It took about ten minutes, but Dick finally calmed down enough to talk. "Sorry you had to see that," he whispered, "I…. it just gets worse and is, well… even more-"

"It's okay, it's not like I haven't seen you like this before, and I know that it's difficult for you, especially when you're sick."

"Thanks," he whispered showing one of his weak smiles.

"Since you're up," Babs said as she grabbed the thermometer off of the nightstand (ha-ha that sounds like where Nightwing would keep his uniform), "might as well check on your fever." The look Dick shot her was so close to the batglare that Babs almost wanted to cringe. "Oh come on, the faster it goes down the less I'll worry about you."

The only response she got was Dick opening his mouth. "Don't take it out," she said, "I'm going to go check on Tim real quick." She finished as she was leaving the room.

* * *

Barbra walked over to Tim's room and opened the door, _ok, so he either is so sick he didn't hear Dick scream, or he is faking sleeping. _She thought when she saw the boy lying on the bed. And that was when she noticed the bathroom light was on. _He got sick again, great. _She thought as she walked over to his bed and carefully laid her hand on his forehead, _and he's burning up too._

"Babs, is that you?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, did I wake you up?"

"No, I was kinda already up actually, is Dick alright?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry you're not feeling good, do you want anything?"

"No, all I need is some sleep."

"Ok then, come get me if you need anything, ok?"

"Ok," the young robin said with a yawn as Babs walked out of the room.

_Ok, now that that's done, where is Bruce? _She thought as she walked down the hallway towards his room. She opened the door, and not surprisingly, it was empty. _Ok… Batcave._ As she walked downstairs, once again she saw the clock, _two in the morning; Bruce has to at least be in the Batcave, I honestly hope that he isn't still out on patrol. _She walked down to the secret entrance and then walked inside.

* * *

_ Okay, _she thought_, it seems that every villain in Gotham decided to go out tonight. Why else would he have all of the asylum inmates pulled up on the computer, unless, _she paused in her thinking as a news report of the asylum mass breakout came on, _of course it had to be tonight!_

The first thing Dick said when Barbra walked in his bedroom was, "He's out late tonight, isn't he? Was there some sort of breakout at the asylum again? Joker, I bet, no one else normally takes so long." He said as he zipped up his Nightwing uniform.

"Dick, don't worry about it."

"He's going to need help." Dick retorted as he put on his mask, stumbling as he walked towards the door.

"Dick," she sighed as she grabbed his arm, "A, it's Bruce, you know 'The Batman', you know he fought crime long before we were born, B, you're sick, so you in a fight would not be of any help, C, my dad is already on, along with all of Gotham PD, doing crowd control," she added when she saw his eyes go wide at the thought of any police fighting a single Arkum villain, " And D, if he has a real problem, he'd call me."

"Fine," was all he could say in response, "so, it's so bad that you felt you had to reassure me that it would be fine." His smile was so mischievous, if he wasn't sick she would be wondering what he did now to get in trouble.

"I know you already looked it up, hunk wonder." She said as grabbed the thermometer off the stand, "Now go change back into PJ's."

After Dick left Barbra checked the thermometer's records, _one hundred five, well at least it went down a degree. _When Dick walked back in he found Babs looking at the thermometer, "Sorry, I know you told me to keep it in my mouth, but you took too long."

"It's okay; you probably need to lie down though. A little too high for comfort Mr. One-o-five."

"Yeah, did you check Tim's?"

"No, but I probably should, he got sick again."

"Ok, so… you'll be back in 'a second'."

"Yeah."

* * *

_Ughh… I am so tired; I wish I could just go to sleep!_ Tim was thinking as Babs walked into his room. "Hey Tim, need to check on your fever."

"Ok," Tim mumbled as he sat up slowly, he had learned that if you sit up too fast you get sick, again. As he waited for the thermometer to beep, he drifted away. He was brought back by Barbra almost yelling, "Tim, wake up!" He emerged from his occupied state to find a worried expression on Babs face.

"How do you feel Tim?"

"Bad," his voice sounded horrible; like sandpaper had been rubbing his throat while he 'slept'.

"I can tell, but more specifically does anything hurt too badly?"

"Stomach."

"Got it," she said grabbing some medicine for that and handing the right amount to him.

"Thanks," he said before breaking into a coughing fit.

_ Though it may not help, even medicine is upsetting my stomach. Probably should have told her that, _Tim quietly thought to himself. He laid back down and almost fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, but a few seconds after Babs grabbed one of the instant ice packs she knew he had in his room and put it on his head. It was cold! Really cold! His eyes shot open.

"Yeah, I know it's cold, but you've managed to raise your fever to one hundred four, so it either this or more medicine that you keep throwing up."

_Oh… she figured it out. Good, medicine is the worst thing to throw up, but still… It's COLD!_ Babs left momentarily to go grab a blanket for him, knowing that he would feel like he was becoming an ice cube, and when she returned found him curled into a ball actually asleep for once that night. She gently tucked the blanket around him and left to go check on Dick before going to hopefully get some sleep of her own.

* * *

When she went back to Dick's room she could hear him throwing up. _Great, he is going to be so uncooperative. _When she walked into his bathroom she found him leaning on the counter near the sink while he was washing his mouth out. Babs really didn't know what to say to him, so instead she grabbed an ice pack from the cabinet and handed it to him. "Here, I gave one to Tim too, it should help lower your fever."

"Ok, thanks."

"You really should try to get some sleep."

"Yeah, sleep would be nice," he said as he walked back towards his bed. "But I'm curious," he said as he sat down, "does Bruce need any help?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he's fine. You honestly would be more of a distraction than an asset in a fight in your current condition."

"It's not that I'm just worried." That was when Barbra knew what his problem was.

"He's going to be fine, do you want me to sleep in here tonight."

"No! I'm not that little anymore!"

"Ok, you're just worrying me. You don't normally get worried about Bruce, it's actually kinda scary."

"From the report I heard it's good to be scared since every Arkum villain decided to go out for a stroll tonight, he could be ambushed by anyone at any time!"

"Yeah, and if gets too bad he still has me to call in."

"Fine, you win. I'll go to sleep, by myself, if you don't mind."

"No I don't, but if you're gone at any point tonight, I will tell the entire team about how uncooperative you are when you're sick and how you can act like a two year old."

"Fine, I'll stay in bed."

"Good," Babs said before yawning, "Goodnight Dick."

"Night Babs," Dick said as he lied back down onto his bed.

Dick was asleep before Barbra even closed the door, she could hear his raspy breaths coming out in pants. He seemed to be a lot worse when he was asleep. _That probably means he's hiding it when he's awake. _She thought.

She was honestly looking forward to getting some sleep when Bruce called her. There were sounds of fighting and laughing in the background as she answered, "What do you need?" He was obviously fighting Joker, "There are bombs all over the city," _probably were being planted while Batman was busy with a different villain_ thought Babs, "I'm busy with Joker and Two-Face. You need to locate and disarm them. Batman out."

_Oh joy, just what I needed. Now the question is, is it so bad that I need backup. _ Babs logged in to the bat computer in the cave. Using the bomb detecting software she managed to locate eight bombs, also thanks to the software she found she had twenty five minutes to disarm them. _Great, that puts me at what, about three minutes per bomb._ That's when she decided she would be needing backup.

* * *

"Dick, wake up!" Babs yelled at the sleeping hero.

"What… what is it?" Dick asked before coughing.

"Bruce needs help, he's busy fighting Joker and there are eight bombs placed all around the city, I've already located them and found out there's about twenty five minutes until the bombs blow."

"Go wake Tim up to," Dick said as he got out of bed, the need of protecting Gotham waking him up.

"Ok," Babs said, running off.

Dick grabbed his costume and got changed as quickly as possible, putting on his mask as he walked out into the hallway. He was slightly dizzy and out of focus as he walked down to the Batcave.

* * *

Tim woke up quickly when Babs said that there were bombs. He was able to shake off the sick feeling long enough to get dressed and run down the stairs to the Batcave.

After all of the teens were ready to go, it took about five minutes, Babs handed the boys the coordinates of the bombs they needed to disable, splitting them up as evenly as possible. They each took their cycles and headed out in the direction they needed to go.

Babs felt a little dizzy, but she passed it off as being sleep deprived, in total she thought she got about two and a half hours of sleep that night so far. Plus school had been harsh. It didn't matter that she was out of high school, collage was still pretty hard.

She disabled the first two bombs easily, but it felt like she was in a sauna. The sweat clung to her suit and her skin, her head felt like it was an oven about to explode it was pounding so hard. Tim had radioed that he had gotten both of his bombs disarmed and Dick was working on his last one. They had about only four minutes to disable the last two bombs.

Babs' last bomb was located in north Gotham, on the abandoned apartment building across from where Artemis' mom lived. Artemis, who was visiting, almost jumped when she saw Batgirl pull up and stared for a few seconds before her mind registered what was going on. When it did she ran to get changed and was on the rooftops in under a minute. Artemis landed just as Babs burst through the door to the roof. Babs sat down in front of the bomb and began disarming it, while Artemis, who just noticed the bomb, watched her, ready to grab her and run if it needed. The timer read two minutes when Dick radioed that he had disarmed his, Babs radioed back that she was halfway done, and Tim said he was going to Babs' location. It was a good thing he was coming too, because Babs fainted a few seconds later.

Artemis grabbed her communicator after catching her and setting her down. "Hey guys," Artemis said, "This is Artemis, Batgirl just fainted. Robin can you please hurry up." From Dick's end she got something that faintly sounded like cuss words before he broke into a coughing fit and from Tim's she got a hoarse, "On my way." _Something is wrong with these guys tonight; Dick coughing, Tim being hoarse, and Babs fainting. Something is defiantly wrong._

* * *

When Tim arrived the counter read one minute. "Great," he said sarcastically before sitting down. "You may want to take Batgirl down," he said not using her real name out of habit. Forty five seconds.

"And let you get blown up when the bomb goes off, no." Artemis got no response and watched as Tim finished dismantling the device, "Shoot!" he exclaimed suddenly, "I can't find the wire I need."

"Well then keep looking." Thirty seconds.

Tim found a small metal grate in the back, the trick to disabling this bomb, it contained even more wires. Tim's eyes expertly searched for the right one as Dick pulled up on his cycle in front of the building. Fifteen seconds. Dick ran up the stairs and emerged on the roof. Ten seconds. Dick ran over to Tim as Artemis took Batgirl down to the bikes. Five seconds. Dick's hand on Tim's shoulder as he searched. Three seconds. Tim's slight look of joy as he found the right wire. One second. Tim cut the wire, as the dial flashed in between one and zero. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief when both of the Bat boys came out of the door. Suddenly Tim's face turned green as he ran to go expel whatever was left in his body, Dick followed him, soothing his younger brother throughout the entire ordeal. That's when Artemis knew exactly what was going on.

* * *

Babs woke up in Artemis' bedroom, to Dick giving her a worried expression. "Good, I thought you would never wake up," he said after a minute.

"What happened?" Babs said slowly trying to remember how she ended up here. The bomb! Her face turned to fear as she realized she hadn't disarmed it.

"Tim did," Dick said when saw her wide eyes.

"Then why aren't we back at the cave right now?"

"We brought cycles remember, and you were passed out."

"So are we waiting for Bruce or are we going back now that I'm up?"

"We're going to wait for Bruce, so that instead of riding two wheel cycles we can all go home in a four wheeled Batmobile, just in case anyone decides to take a nap," Dick responded smiling. He also grabbed a thermometer off of the nightstand next to the bed and stuck it in her mouth. "Don't take it out." She just smiled in response to him.

It took about ten minutes for Bruce to arrive. He said that there still were a few unaccounted for inmates, , Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow, being some of them and knowing how much Ivy and Scarecrow like using chemical gas he said he would stay in the Cave after they got home. But all of the teens knew he wasn't going to risk getting sick by staying on the same floor as them, it was a stretch that he was going to be in the same car as them at all. In fact he seemed to be pushing how fast he could go while staying in control of the car on the way home.

"So Babs," Dick started saying when they were back at the manor, "Does this still count for leaving my room?"

* * *

Yeah all the lines below here are confusing, working this thing is hard. I know it ended weirdly but I have no idea how else to end it. Review and like please, nothing too hard though. It is my first Young Justice fic. I hope you liked it!


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